Electrics for new house - can it be explained in layman's terms?

[Sophon]

I bought the 240 cm earth rod at Global and put in the ground. Never having connected a ground rod before and not really knowing exactly how to do it, I decided to strip about 5-6 cm of the ground wire and connected the striped wire to the rod with two clamps (if one is good, two must be twice as good). That way the wire and the rod have contact over a distance of about 4 cm and two good solid contact points at the clamps:

Will that work, or is there something I should change?

Sophon

Edited June 12, 2014 by Sophon

[Crossy]

Looks fine to me, I would paint it with acrylic paint to keep the wet out (as per Oz regulations).

[Forkinhades]

Just to add, I would put the clamps together. So you have no space between them

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[Hua Hin expat]

Hi Sophon

I've got some good news and some bad news

Good news is that I'm a certified electrician from the UK and I'm pleased to see that you actually care about doing things right when it comes to electricity in the home, some just assume they're right and go ahead with what they've been told by the local sparky and end up regretting later on when it's too late and somebody gets hurt, or god forbid, worse!

Bad news is that I'm in the pub right now so now's not a good time to put my thinking head on...

Send me a PM with your email and I'll go through with you in detail with what you need and where to purchase the job lot.

Cheers

Sent from my EPhone

[Sophon]

Looks fine to me, I would paint it with acrylic paint to keep the wet out (as per Oz regulations).

Thanks Crossy, "it" being the concrete box or the ground rod/clamp?

Sophon

[Sophon]

Just to add, I would put the clamps together. So you have no space between them

Sent from my SM-G900F using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

Thanks for your reply. Why would putting the two clamps together work better than having them a little apart (with the added contact with the wire between the clamps)?

Sophon

[Sophon]

Hi Sophon

I've got some good news and some bad news

Good news is that I'm a certified electrician from the UK and I'm pleased to see that you actually care about doing things right when it comes to electricity in the home, some just assume they're right and go ahead with what they've been told by the local sparky and end up regretting later on when it's too late and somebody gets hurt, or god forbid, worse!

Bad news is that I'm in the pub right now so now's not a good time to put my thinking head on...

Send me a PM with your email and I'll go through with you in detail with what you need and where to purchase the job lot.

Cheers

Sent from my EPhone

Sorry, but I don't know what you mean by "what you need and where to purchase the job lot.". Connecting the ground rod is (more or less) the final step in installing the electrics for the main living areas, so it's a little late for any purchases.

But thanks for your reply, and I hope you have a thoroughly enjoyable evening down at the pub.

Sophon

[Crossy]

Looks fine to me, I would paint it with acrylic paint to keep the wet out (as per Oz regulations).

Thanks Crossy, "it" being the concrete box or the ground rod/clamp?

Sorry mate, the clamp and cable and rod contact area.

[Forkinhades]

Its better to strip the cable the size of the two clamps and clamp them as that. Better to stop the cables from splaying

Sent from my SM-G900F using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[Sophon]

Looks fine to me, I would paint it with acrylic paint to keep the wet out (as per Oz regulations).

Thanks Crossy, "it" being the concrete box or the ground rod/clamp?

Sorry mate, the clamp and cable and rod contact area.

Thanks, will do.

Sophon

[Hua Hin expat]

Hi Sophon

I've got some good news and some bad news

Good news is that I'm a certified electrician from the UK and I'm pleased to see that you actually care about doing things right when it comes to electricity in the home, some just assume they're right and go ahead with what they've been told by the local sparky and end up regretting later on when it's too late and somebody gets hurt, or god forbid, worse!

Bad news is that I'm in the pub right now so now's not a good time to put my thinking head on...

Send me a PM with your email and I'll go through with you in detail with what you need and where to purchase the job lot.

Cheers

Sent from my EPhone

Sorry, but I don't know what you mean by "what you need and where to purchase the job lot.". Connecting the ground rod is (more or less) the final step in installing the electrics for the main living areas, so it's a little late for any purchases.

But thanks for your reply, and I hope you have a thoroughly enjoyable evening down at the pub.

Sophon

Oh my god!

Face plant in Palm time...

Now I'm on the bigger screen at home i can see your original post was back in July last year!!

Drunken 45 year old eyes and an iPhone app... Not a good mix ahahaha55555555 !

A few coffees at home later and the light comes on

Anyway,

I'd better get off this thread as I can see you're almost done and dusted so you're not going to change anything regardless,

Good luck man

Sent from my iPad using Thaivisa Connect Thailand

Edited June 12, 2014 by Hua Hin expat

[Sophon]

Its better to strip the cable the size of the two clamps and clamp them as that. Better to stop the cables from splaying

Sent from my SM-G900F using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

But won't the cables splaying create a larger contact area between rod and cable? Why would that be a bad thing?

Sorry, probably stupid questions but I am just trying to learn.

Sophon

[thomasteve]

Its better to strip the cable the size of the two clamps and clamp them as that. Better to stop the cables from splaying

Sent from my SM-G900F using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

But won't the cables splaying create a larger contact area between rod and cable? Why would that be a bad thing?

Sorry, probably stupid questions but I am just trying to learn.

Sophon

It's just a bit more mechanically secure/neater if you have the top clamp and cut ends of the conductors at the same position with the lower clamp just below the top one. The contact area and splaying will still remain pretty much the same.

Incidentally how did you manage to sink the 2.4 m rod into the hard ? ground.

[Sophon]

Its better to strip the cable the size of the two clamps and clamp them as that. Better to stop the cables from splaying

Sent from my SM-G900F using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

But won't the cables splaying create a larger contact area between rod and cable? Why would that be a bad thing?

Sorry, probably stupid questions but I am just trying to learn.

Sophon

It's just a bit more mechanically secure/neater if you have the top clamp and cut ends of the conductors at the same position with the lower clamp just below the top one. The contact area and splaying will still remain pretty much the same.

Incidentally how did you manage to sink the 2.4 m rod into the hard ? ground.

I searched on the web and found a video of a guy pushing down a ground rod by digging a small (less than 5 cm diameter and 10 cm depth) hole and filling it with water. He then pushed the ground rod down a few cm, pulled it out again and pushed it down again in a slow rythm without exerting too much pressure (or the rod gets stuck). Whenever the rod got difficult to push down, he pulled it completely out and filled in more water in the hole. Then he re-inserted the rod and started again.

It sounded too good to be true, but I thought I would give it a try. It actually worked very well for getting the first 210 cm of the rod down, which was probably completed in less than 10 minutes. At that point I hit a layer of rocky ground, and had to hammer the rod down the last bit. I am not sure, but I think that this process might only work in dirt rich in clay, where adding water creates a lubricating layer, that allows the rod to be easily moved up and down.

Sophon

[thomasteve]

Thanks, seems it may be a lot easier than I thought.

[Sophon]

While measuring and marking out the level for the floor tiles, our builder accidentally managed to slide his metal measuring tape behind a plug that was plugged into one of our power outlets. The measuring tape made contact with the live leg of the plug and presumably also with the neutral leg. I assume that there was contact with both legs of the plug because of the burn marks on the tape and the outlet:

The breaker on that particular obviously tripped, so no damage was done (other than the minor burns to tape and plug shown in the picture). Our builder didn't even get a shock, maybe because the tape made contact with both legs of the plug allowing the power to take the easy way to the neutral connection?

Sophon

[Forkinhades]

Yeah, direct 'short' between live and neutral, causing the MCB to open. No shock to the operative. To earth would have been different story.

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[Forkinhades]

Just to add, that you have got exposed copper on your terminations. Once an accessory has been been connected no copper should be seen.

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[thomasteve]

He was fortunate as perhaps the tape measure casing was plastic or he was insulated somewhat by the paint on the steel tape measure.

If the plug was pushed fully home into the socket there would have been no space for the steel rule to slip into.

Part insulated pins on plugs are safer as they prevent such accidents that occur when plugs have not been fully inserted and remain partially exposed. Looks like you need to buy him a new measuring tape anyway as the markings are already worn off

Edited July 19, 2014 by thomasteve

[Sophon]

A quick update (for anyone who might be interested).

We finally finished the electrics on Sunday and moved to the house Monday (we weren't waiting for the electrics to be finished but for the front gate to be installed to keep our dogs in). Total cost ended up as Baht 83,389 including Baht 16k for the PEA to erect a concrete pole on our land and lead the power across the road from the PEA pole as well as the deposit on the meter. Also included in the total is Baht 18k for 100 meter 16 sq.mm. NYY cable to bring the power to the house and macro hire to dig the ditch for the cable to run in. So the cost for the electrics "in the house" ended up at a little less than Baht 50k.

The ground floor is primarily for our eight dogs to live in (plus storage), so we have tiles on he floor and 90 cm up the walls to make it easier to keep clean. Before we moved in the GF promptly decided to test the safety of our electrics by cleaning up the ground floor to make it ready for the dogs to move in to. In typical Thai fashion this included lots of water, so she ended up standing in about 3 cm of water on the floor when she decided it would be a good idea also to rinse off the wall tiles (without any regard for the power outlets). With water running into the power outlets the RCBO promptly disconnected without anyone getting hurt, so I guess that could be regarded as a successful (albeit dangerous) test.

Now we just have to get the PEA to come check out the installation and switch us the a permanent supply.

Sophon

[Forkinhades]

just remember to check your RCBO every 3 months, with your GF washing the walls

[Sophon]

A guy from the local PEA office came today to switch us over from the temporary/building supply to a permanent supply. He didn't consider it necessary to come in and inspect our electrical solution, but I don't know if that is general policy or if it was because our eight dogs was barking at him from inside the gate

So I guess this is the end of this topic. I would like to thank everyone who have participated with a special thanks to our resident electricians. I started out a little over a year ago knowing very little about electrics, but have since then learned enough to feel confident that our house have a good, safe electrical solution - even if I did end up having to do most of the work myself. I hope that the topic have also been of some use to others contemplating building a new house or changing the wiring in their existing house.

Thank you again to everyone.

Sophon

[Crossy]

Sounds like a result

[sofiakleeman]

Ah got it, you need to graft your cables onto the end of that cable across the road. The easy way is the barrel / butt crimps I suggested, your sparks should know how to connect. These http://www.thetoolboxshop.com/t050-pack-of-10-16mm2-cable-butt-copper-heavy-duty-tinned-terminal-1055.html

Our ABB kit came initially from HomePro, but our local electrical emporium also carries the breakers at much the same price (but rather closer). You should use the same manufacturer's breakers, but since the ABB boxes are DIN rail pretty well any DIN breaker will fit.

We had to use a Haco 50A incomer, PEA insisted that our ABB 63A was not acceptable on our 15/45 meter and ABB don't do a 50A 2-pole MCB.

Dear Crossy, thanks for this link. I have seen this "0-008-34, pack of 10, 16-10mm Durite heavy duty tinned copper crimp terminals". This is good. Can I used for home main power?

[carstenp]

For every commet in this tread I will say thanks. I'm about to do the same in my house. Save a little bit money, and has done some installation in my home country.

Thanks for this great tread